Ear training for French conversation

This installment of our series of real-life French conversations looks at a sample from Europe. If you haven’t read my blog post on how to use these real examples, you should do so now. The first goal is to train the learners’ ears to decode the sounds of real French conversation and to associate these sounds with the written words in a transcription.

A second goal is to develop a good understanding of the vocabulary, grammar, idioms, phrasing and conversational devices used by the speakers.

Finally, the ultimate goal is to show how the material from these sample conversation can be used by learners to enhance their own French conversation speaking skills.

The sample French conversation

This sample comes from a French cooking show that probably dates back a few years, judging by the clothes of the show host. The two speakers are making a specialty from Marseille called la bouillabaisse borgne. I love these shows because the speakers are too busy to mind their language, unlike most television shows where the participants are very self-conscious and try to use their best language.

Although the program is a bit old, it contains excellent examples of delightful banter between the rather serious chef and the very lively show host. There are a couple of linguistic gems that are analyzed in detail in the next blog post.

How to use

This case study is divided into three parts or blog posts. Part 1 contains the recording, a detailed transcription and a translation. Parts 2 and 3 contain some general comments on the language used and then a series of specific detailed comments on things to notice or to listen for.

I suggest you print this page. Then the idea, of course, is to listen to the recording without and then with the transcript. Since the recording is very fast, it is best to listen in small doses when following the text. You’ll see exactly what is being said and, if necessary, what words to look up in a dictionary. The translation will give you a good idea of what the speakers meant.

This excerpt ends at 3:28 of the original recording. You could, of course, try to listen to the whole recording.

The transcription

— De retour (1) dans cette émission dédiée (2) à Marseille aujourd’hui, alors (3) Bernard nous allons passer à la fameuse bouillabaisse.
— Bouillabaisse borgne.
— Borgne. Bon (4) vous allez nous expliquer. (5)
— Sans le poisson. (6)
— Pourquoi ? Oui, ça, c’est étonnant. (7) Alors on va lister (8) d’ailleurs tous les ingrédients avant d’aller (9) plus loin. Alors dites-nous ce dont on a besoin. (10)
— Alors jeunes pousses d’épinards, oignons,[oui] fenouil, tomates,
— Poireaux.
— Poireaux.
— Pommes de terre.
— Oui.
— Ail, le thym et laurier pour le bouquet garni. (11)
— Euheun (12)
— L’écorce d’orange, safran, œuf (13) et une tranche de pain.
— Bon (14) pas l’ombre d’un poisson. (15)
— Non, pas de poisson. Tous les ingrédients de la bouillabaisse sans poi… (16) sans poisson.
— Ça, c’est typiquement marseillais ?
— C’est typique…(17), c’est un plat ancien qui est relevé dans la cuisine marseillaise, qui m’avait d’ailleurs (18) été demandé quand je suis allé (19) au Japon par des Japonais parce que eux avaient étudié l’histoire de la cuisine marseillaise et connaissaient la bouillabaisse borgne. Donc ils m’ont… j’avais étudié aussi, moi. (20)
— Sur les influences européennes, Marseille, c’est…(21), ça dépasse…(22)
— J’ai pu la (23) réaliser pour eux au Japon.
— Ça donne quoi, (24) une bouillabaisse japonaise ? (rires)
— Euh-euf. Les poissons n’ont pas tout à fait le même goût.
— Oui, bon d’accord.
— Les légumes non plus d’ailleurs. (25)
— Chauvin, ce Bernard. (26)
— (rires)
— Bon alors. (27) On a une marmite ici.
— Alors, on va mettre de l’huile d’olive. (28)
— Oui.Hop là ! (29) Un bon peu, euh. (30)
— Un bon peu.
— Faites comme moi.
— Ouais, ouais.
— C’est bien. (rires) Et on va faire revenir. (31) Alors qu’est-ce qu’on va faire revenir ?
— On va faire revenir des oignons. (32)
— Oui, Des poireaux.
— Des poireaux.
— Alors émincés très finement. (33)
— Émincés très fins. Il faut que ça cuise (34) très vite.
— D’accord… C’est joli.
— C’est joli, hein ? (35)
— Ouais…Vous mettez (36) pas tout ?
— Non. (37)
— Non.. on (38) fait une petite quantité ?
— Oui.
— Bon.
— Voilà.
— Bien, chef…au moins on aura trouvé le principe. Alors les oignons fine- (39),,,
— Les oignons, les poireaux.
— Les poireaux finement émincés…les oignons nous y voilà. (40)
— Les oignons pareil (41)
— Très bien.
— Il faut pas (42) tout mettre parce que…
— Euheun
— Alors ensuite. (43)
— Le fenouil…haché
— Le fenouil,…qu’est-ce que je peux faire, moi ? je peux peut-être préparer l’ail, tiens .(44)
— Voilà.
— Voilà.
— Je détache… à la hauteur…trois gousses d’ail ?
— Trois gousses d’ail épluchées, je vais émincer aussi.
— D’accord, hop…hop. (45)…alors un petit couteau…(46) un petit couteau. Ah oui…j’aurais pas fait une gousse d’ail, vous aurez déjà fait une bonne dizaine de céleris, quoi. (47)
— D’accord.
— C’est toujours la même histoire avec les chefs…voilà.
— Le fenouil…la tomate concassée qu’on a concassée avant.
— Euhun…euh…dites-moi, chef, le (48)… l’origine de la bouillabaisse…
— Alors, ça.
— Vous la connaissez, vous ? (49)
— Bien sûr.
— Ah voilà.
— Ce sont les (50) pêcheurs qui donc…qui cuisaient leurs poissons en rentrant de pêche, les poissons qu’i (51) vendaient pas, qui étaient abîmés ou dans les filets ou qu’i vendaient pas, qui étaient pas des poissons nobles.
— Euhun
— Ben, ils (52) les gardaient pour eux, (53) voilà.
— D’accord, ils les (54)…se débrouillaient en (55)…c’est le plat du pauvre finalement.
— C’était…c’était un plat du pauvre comme le trois-quarts…des plats…(56)
— Des plats…marseillais. (rires) (57)
— Pas que marseillais.. pas que marseillais.(58) Comme la choucroute (59), comme le cassoulet, (60) comme tous ces plats…
— En tout cas, quand on voit le prix de la bouillabaisse maintenant, han…han,(61) ç’a changé, hein. (62)
— C’est très cher.
— Oui,
— Le poisson (63) est devenu (64) très, très cher.
— Donc fenouil, tomates (65) … Je sais pas si je vous ai bien émincé (66) comme vous vouliez.
— C’est bon..non…c’est bon. Ah oui, Ça va faire.
— En lamelles, en morceaux, peu importe, ça va fondre.
— Ça va faire.
— Vous êtes gentil, Bernard.
— Voilà, merci.
— Voilà, on mélange…qu’est-ce qu’on n’a pas mis ?
— Le bouquet garni.
— Le bouquet garni, voilà.

If you listen to the full recording, there will be talk about spices from Tunisia used by chef Loury. Here is a bit of dialogue at 4:20:
— Quelles épices est-ce que vous utilisez?
— Ras el hanout.
— Célèbre.

The translation

This translation is less idiomatic that it could be and follows the original French somewhat to give a better sense of how French phrasing works.

— Welcome back to today’s program dedicated to Marseille; so, Bernard, we are going to look at the famous bouillabasse.
— Bouillabaisse borgne – (one-eyed bouillabaisse).
— Borgne. So, you’re going to explain…
— Without fish.
— Why so? Yes, that is surprising. So, we’re going to first list all ingredients. So, tell us what we need.
— Yes, young spinach leaves, onions, fennel,
— Leeks.
— Leeks.
— Potatoes.
— Yes.
— Garlic, thyme and bay leaves for the bouquet garni.
— Uh huh
— Orange peel, saffron, egg, and a slice of bread.
— Fine, not a fish in sight.
— No, no fish. All the ingredients for the bouillabaisse without fish.
— This is typically Marseillais?
— It’s typically…it’s an old dish that is recorded in the cuisine of Marseille and when I went to Japan I got a request for it from the Japanese because they had studied the history of Marseille cuisine. So, they..…I had studied it as well.
— On the the European influence, Marseille, is. ..it’s beyond.
— I was able to make it for them in Japan.
— What is a Japanese bouillabaisse like?
— Eh, The fish don’t have the same taste.
— Yes, I see.
— Neither do the vegetables, by the way.
— Ever the chauvinist, Bernard.
— (laughter)
— So, now. We have a pot here.
— So, we’re going to pour in some olive oil.
— In it goes!
— A good amount, eh.
— A good amount.
— As I do..
— Yeah, yeah.
— This is fine. (laughter). Now we’re going to brown. What are we going to brown?
— We’re going to brown some onions.
— Yes, some leeks.
— Some leeks.
— So, finely chopped.
— Finely chopped. It has to cook quickly.
— OK… It’s pretty.
— It’s pretty, isn’t it?
— Yeah…You’re not putting it all in?
— No.
— No.. you’re making a small quantity?
— Yes.
— Good.
— There you go.
— Well, chef…at least we know the principle. So, the onions finely…
— The onions, the leeks.
— The leeks finely chopped up…now the onions.
— The onions the same.
— Very good.
— You don’t put everything in because…
— Uh huh
— So next.
— The fennel…chopped.
— The chopped fennel,…what can I do? Maybe I can prepare the garlic, how about that?
— There you go.
— There you go.
— I break off… at the top …three cloves of garlic?
— Three gloves of garlic peeled. I’m going to cut up as well.
— OK…so, a little knife…a little knife. By the time I do one clove of garlic, you will have done a good dozen celery stalks.
— OK.
— It’s always the same thing with chefs…there we go.
— The fennel… the crushed tomatoes that we crushed before.
— Ah..umm.. say, chef. the origin of the bouillabaisse.
— Yes, that.
— Do you know the origin?
— Of course.
— Well, good..
— There were these fishermen who would cook the fishing after coming back from fishing…the fish that they didn’t sell, the damaged fish or caught in the nets…that they couldn’t sell or that were not the more desirable fish.
— Uhuh
— So, they kept them for themselves.
— I see. They…they concocted something…in fact it’s a poor people’s dish.
— It was a poor people’s dish, like the three-quarters of…
— Of the dishes…from Marseille.
— Not only from Marseille…not only from Marseille. Like sauerkraut or cassoulet, like all these dishes….
— In any case, when you see the price of bouillabaisse today…things have changed.
— It’s very expensive.
— Yes,
— Fish has become very expensive.
— So, fennel, tomatoes. I don’t know if I’ve chopped it finely like you wanted.
— It’s fine…no…it’s fine. That will do.
— In thin slices, in chunks, it doesn’t matter, it will melt.
— This will do.
— You’re so kind, Bernard.
— There you go, thank you
— There, we mix it up….what have we not added?
— The bouquet garni.
— The bouquet garni, there!

Although this French conversation was recorded in a studio and with a professional host, the language is very spontaneous and fun to listen to. The next blog posts will go into details of grammar and vocabulary, but it should be quite clear from the transcript and the translation that the French used here is simple and straightforward. Once you see what exactly is being said, you realize that it’s not as complicated as it sounds.